


Episode 66: When you don't know me...

by PitoyaPTx



Series: Clan Meso'a [66]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Clan, Mandalorian Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26655013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitoyaPTx/pseuds/PitoyaPTx
Summary: "It's not about how you grieve, but what you do when it's over." ~ UnknownFalstra arrives moments after catastrophe
Series: Clan Meso'a [66]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1261364
Kudos: 1





	Episode 66: When you don't know me...

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry but apparently the ship is going to be Falstra and not Fallstra. Google does not like the second "l" XD

Beun brought Falstra to the epicenter of the debris field. A few larger hunks of metal bounced off the hull, but it seemed most of the ship had already drifted far away; all that remained was the skeletal mass of the cockpit. Beon’s chest felt so tight it was hard to breathe. Without thinking, he gripped Fent’s arm who was in turn gripping Beun’s hand.   
“No,” he said, although his voice barely escaped his throat.   
“We...we have to get… if they’re,” Teika tried to speak but found himself grasping at words that just wouldn’t come.   
Lyse swallowed hard. “Help me...suit up.”   
No one replied. They all moved silently out of the cockpit, save for Noga’n who sank into Beun’s seat, his hands trembling as he gripped the arm rests.   
Lyse, Teika, and Beon suited up first followed by Maceon and Fent.   
“Someone should stay with him,” Beun nodded over her shoulder in the direction of the cockpit. She patted Fent’s pauldron and stepped back to the cargo bay controls. The magnetic fields activated, gluing the cargo down before she vented it to space. The energy barrier went up with a low hum; Lyse was the first to walk through with Teika at her heels. Beon and Fent hesitated.   
“You’ll find her,” Beun’s voice came over their helmet comms, “Both of them.”   
“In what condition?” Beon said bitterly, powering on his jetpack and boosting up towards the damaged craft. Fent stayed where he was, his hands balled up in tight fists.   
“Cyare?” Beun asked, able to see him from the other side of the shield.   
He shook his head then leapt out into the void behind Beon. 

Beun reached the cockpit and sat down at the co-pilot’s seat. Goldie had climbed onto the back of Noga’n’s chair and was licking his face.   
“Hey,” she said softly, reaching for the strill and pulling him away.   
Goldie struggled with her for a moment, giving Noga’n’s face one more lick before settling into Beun’s lap.   
“We’re too late,” he said after a moment, wiping his cheeks with his gloves.   
He knew Beun wouldn’t lie to him so he didn’t bother looking at her when he said, “She’s probably dead.”   
Beun didn’t reply. She looked out at the wreckage, at the small figures of her comrades rummaging through the debris… 

The com’s nearly shorted when Lyse screamed. Beun buried her face in the folds of Goldie’s neck, trying to shield her face from Noga’n. His head was in his hands and there was no muffling his grief.   
Lyse pulled Jecho’s body from under a pile of damaged crates, her skin charred and her back bent at an angle it shouldn’t have been. She brought Jecho to her chest and wailed. Teika wrapped his arms around Lyse’s back and rested his chin on her shoulder, but no sound came from him. Maceon hovered behind them. She’d hoped to investigate the cockpit, but she felt disrespectful moving past. It wasn’t until Beon came to her side that she looked away.   
“I’m sorry,” she said.   
He bowed his head slightly, “She didn’t deserve this.”   
“Did the Meso’a?”  
He clenched his teeth, “Let’s just find them.”   
The Zabrak nodded and kicked forward past Lyse and Teika, careful not to disturb them. Fent followed, taking a quick glance at Jecho and wishing he hadn’t. Death from exposure was something they’d talked about in training, something he was aware happened when not properly suited up, but he’d never seen it before. If it weren’t for her jumpsuit, charred and shredded as it was, he might not have recognized her.   
It took both Maceon and Beon to open the cockpit door. The lock had been damaged in the explosion, but it was clearly made to withstand catastrophic ship failures. Falstra’s was as well, so Beon was aware of how to pry one open in an emergency. The cockpit was dark but largely undamaged, save for a few sparking consoles, a cracked display, and the figure slumped over the steering mechanism. Maceon paused when she spotted her, but Beon approached.   
“Wait a sec,” Maceon cautioned.   
“Mace they’re dead,” said Fent, moving past her.   
“I don’t-”   
Aviila’s hand shot out and gripped Beon’s breastplate just below his collarbone. He tried to pry it off, but the older warrior was far stronger than he was. She pulled him to her so their helmets were almost touching. Fent raised his blaster, but Maceon grabbed his hand and forced him to lower it.   
“Mace-”   
“Wait!”   
Beon gripped Aviila’s wrist, still struggling to pry it off. She tilted her head. It could have been his imagination, and though he knew he shouldn’t be able to hear it, he thought he heard garbled talking, or at least, it sounded like it. He took one hand off hers and fiddled with his comlink, switching it from channel to channel until he heard,   
“...pod,” in a raspy, garbled voice as though her helmet was full of water.   
“Pod… an escape pod?” he asked, his heart beginning to race.   
She pressed her helmet against his. She gave another gasp, another attempt to talk to him, but began to cough instead.   
“Cara is alive?”   
She raised her helmet slowly, letting the snout of the animal scrape against his visor until hers became level with his. He searched it but it was futile to try to see the face from the holo behind the dark screen. Her grip on his breastplate tightened, and she made a sound like she was gasping for breath but there wasn’t anything Beon could do. If they weren’t exposed to space, he could remove her helmet and assess the damage… but all he could do was listen to her lungs strain to function. There was no way to tell what exactly happened to her as he couldn’t move from his position. Maceon and Fent hadn’t moved either, the former too stunned to and the latter waiting for the former to let him go. Just as Beon switched his com back to Falstra’s channel, Aviila’s body gave a lurch and her grip went slack. He caught her as her body slumped towards him.   
“Help me!” he said, struggling to reach the clasp of her harness.   
Fent pushed away from Maceon and floated to the other side of Aviila. It took him a bit of fumbling to unhook her, but once she was free Beon kicked off from the floor and pulled her away from the chair. 

“I don’t see it,” said Beun over the holo.   
Jiik’s head sank into his hands. Huddled between his legs, Tir sobbed into his grandfather’s shin guard. Talva was sitting cross legged in front of him sniffing softly with her hair draped in front of her face and her cheeks rested on her knuckles.   
“You don’t see anything? Not even part of the hull?” Chellin asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose and taking deep breaths.   
Beun shook her head. Chellin’s left hand formed a fist and he made to slam it on the holotable before he caught himself.   
“They could be on their way back,” Beun offered, “If they did this to the Meso’a then maybe they’re alright?”   
Jiik shook his head, “They didn’t do that.” He gestured up at the holo image of the wreckage, “From what you’ve mapped, whoever ambushed them were the same ones who did the other ship.”   
“How do you know?”  
He pointed at the cockpit, “They left that intact. That’s where the pilot would be.”   
“And?”  
“Meso’a are always the pilots.”   
Chellin looked back at him. “You think they wanted her alive?”   
“I think they botched the first one and wanted to try it again.”   
“By why her specifically?”  
Jiik shrugged. “I don’t remember much about how raiders work. Not anymore, at least.”   
He swallowed hard and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.   
“I’ll try to ping them again,” said Garrigon, already keying it in. Jiik nodded and took another deep breath. 

“Should we bring her back with us?” asked Maceon.   
Jiik shook his head. He was standing now, having left Tir and Talva sitting together against the other holo table.   
“Leave her for the Meso’a and make sure everything is there.”   
“Like what?”   
“Pectoral, plume, et cetera. Just make sure it doesn’t look like anything is missing.”   
We don’t want to do this again, Garrigon thought to himself as he tried once more to reach Anhari.   
“I’m still not getting anything,” he said sadly, getting up from the console, “Jiik-”   
The Togruta held up his hand, gesturing with a glance back at his grandson.

“We can lay her here?” Maceon suggested, taking Aviila’s legs and helping Beon angle her so she was lying behind the pilot’s seat.   
“I’ll get scanning for that pod,” said Beun over the coms, “Noga’n?”   
He nodded, his eyes puffy and his lips white from how hard he was holding them shut.   
“Can I still count on you?”   
He nodded.   
“Good, now get up and scan for incoming ships while I look for that escape pod.”   
He nodded again, but his lip quivered slightly as he pushed himself up and grabbed his crutches. They traded seats without another word and began their separate tasks. Goldie curled up behind Beun’s chair, but glanced up at Noga’n every so often. Muffled thuds from behind told Beun Lyse and Teika must have returned. Neither came back up to the cockpit, but Beun wasn’t going to push them to. She’d located small shuttles and even a few escape pods before on her hunts, but there was so much debris and a lot of energy signatures making it difficult to isolate a single escape pod. She was about to recall the group and move the ship into a better position when Noga’n startled.   
“Beun there’s a ship not even three hundred yards away!” he pointed out into the darkness, “Right there! It’s cloaking itself but-”   
“Shh,” she said, turning off the floodlights.   
Beon, Fent, and Maceon all looked up as the cockpit descended into darkness.   
“Beun,” said Fent, “What’s going on?”   
She didn’t respond.   
“Riduur?”   
Silence, then:   
“Eyes up,” she said in almost a whisper, “Someone’s approaching.”


End file.
